Sorry I took this long to update, but my life has been crazy lately so I haven't really had that much time to write. As it is I really shouldn't be writing this right now as I should be studying for exams, but I needed to relax, and this is what came to mind. So anyway I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Professor Layton or any of its characters, places, puzzles or mysteries
Third Person Point of View
It was a normal morning in the Layton household; Claire and the Professor were already up and preparing breakfast, and Luke and Flora were still asleep in their rooms.
Soon after, the breakfast was ready, and the Professor asked Claire to go wake the children while he put everything out. She agreed and went upstairs to the children's rooms.
She first paused at Luke's room, knocking lightly on the door to see if she got a response from him. When she didn't, she entered his room to see him still asleep. Chuckling, she walked over to him and shook him gently. "Luke, it's time to get up," She said to him.
"No, five more minutes," Luke moaned, rolling over.
Claire smiled, "Well I'm just going to convince you now, am I?" She told him, and then started to tickle him.
"No! Mercy, mercy! Fine, I'll get up already!" Luke shrieked between laughter. Claire stood up, and smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Good idea, now chop, chop, breakfast is ready," She told him. And with that, she left the room, shutting the door behind her. Shaking her head, she moved on to Flora's room and knocked on the door.
"Come in," She heard Flora say from inside the room. Opening the door, Claire entered the room.
"Hey sweetie, breakfast is ready, are you ready to come down?" Claire asked Flora, who was currently sitting on the window sill, staring out the window.
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute," Flora said, without turning around.
"Hey now," Claire said as she sat down beside her. "What's wrong? You seem a little off."
Flora sighed, "It's nothing, really it isn't. There isn't any need for you to worry, trust me."
"Oh come on Flora, you can tell me anything. You know that right?"
"I know that, it's just... I don't know." Flora said, looking down at her lap.
Claire frowned; she was getting some weird vibes from Flora. "You trust me, don't you?"
"I do, trust me, I do. But... oh, I don't know." Flora put her head in her hands, seeming a bit flustered.
"Well, when you're ready to talk, you know where to find me," Claire said as she began to stand up.
"It's about Luke," Flora finally blurted out.
"Oh," Claire said, sitting down again. "And what about Luke are you talking about?"
Flora sighed. "Every time I think he's finally going to ask me out, he just doesn't. I mean, I don't know what to do, I really do like him. Got any advice I could use?"
Claire smiled; this problem sent her back to when she and Hershel had first started dating. "Who says the guy has to make the first move? If I were you; I'd ask him out myself, why don't you ask him to accompany you to the park this afternoon? Maybe you can finally tell him how you feel."
"That's actually a great idea, thanks Claire," Flora said, visibly perking up.
"You're welcome, now come on, like I said earlier, breakfast is ready."
As they left the room and headed downstairs, Claire noticed that Luke's door was still closed. She stopped Flora in the hall.
"I'm going to tell him to hurry up and head downstairs, but why don't you wait here and when he gets out, ask him to go to the park with you this afternoon," Claire suggested to Flora. Flora nodded and walked over to the piece of wall beside his door to wait.
Claire walked up to Luke's door and knocked sharply on the door, "Luke! Hurry up, breakfast is getting cold."
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" They heard Luke yell. Claire laughed, and with a wink to Flora, went downstairs.
Flora took a deep breath as she waited for Luke. "Come on Flora, it's just Luke, you've known each other for ages, this shouldn't be this hard," She thought to herself. Finally she heard the door open.
"Flora!" Luke sounded surprised. "You know you didn't have to wait for me, you could have gone downstairs with Claire." Flora smiled at what he said; he was always quite the gentleman.
"Actually, I wanted to wait. I have something to ask you," Flora took another deep breath. "Would you like to accompany me to the park this afternoon?"
Luke smiled, "Of course I would, there's nothing else I'd rather do. But for now we better head downstairs for breakfast before we get in trouble for taking so long." Flora smiled and nodded, heading for the stairs with Luke right behind her.
Meanwhile the Professor had everything set up and was sitting down waiting for Claire and the kids to come join him. He looked up when he heard footsteps and was a bit surprised to see only Claire walk into the kitchen. "Where are Luke and Flora?" He asked her, curiously.
"Luke still wasn't ready, Flora is waiting for him," She replied. But with her tone of voice and the expression on her face, he could tell there was more to it than just Luke not being ready.
"What's really going on?" He asked her with an all knowing smile.
Claire sighed, "Nothing gets past you, does it? If you must know, Flora is planning on asking Luke to accompany her to the park this afternoon."
"So she finally got tired of waiting for Luke to ask her, huh?"
"Pretty much. Now shush, I hear them coming," She told him with a smirk. He just chuckled and went back to his tea.
Luke and Flora entered the kitchen and sat down. "Sorry we took so long," they said in unison. It was obvious by the look on their faces that this was rehearsed. Claire had to take advantage of the opportunity given to her.
"Gee, that doesn't sound rehearsed at all. What do you think Hershel?" She said with a smirk on her face.
"Oh I don't know, it was very convincing," He said, playing along.
"Okay, we get it already. Now, what is it you want to know?" Flora said, sounding exasperated. Luke meanwhile just sat there with a very awkward expression on his face.
"The answer," Claire said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Come on Flora, you can't possibly be that dense."
"I'm not; I was just living in hope that you would ask something else. And if you must know, he said yes."
Claire squealed and hugged Flora. "See, now was that that hard?"
"No, not really actually."
"I'm sorry; but can we get off this topic before it becomes anymore awkward and embarrassing for me?" Luke asked.
"I must say, I have to agree with Luke on this one," The Professor said, also looking a little awkward.
"Alright fine, we'll stop. Now, let's eat shall we?" Claire said, chuckling.
The next little while was silent, except for the clinking of silverware or sloshing of drinks as they were poured. Finally the Professor broke the silence.
"So what are you two kids up to today?" He asked.
"Well we're going to spend the day at the park, but we'll be home in time to make dinner," Luke replied.
"And don't fear, I'll merely be assisting him," Flora said, knowing that everyone feared her cooking.
"Good to know," The Professor said with a smirk.
"Oh ha ha," Flora said. Then she smiled mischievously, "What will you two be up to this afternoon?"
"Well, I have a bunch of tests that I need to grade, and I was kind of hoping that Claire may like to help me with them." The Professor answered with a hopeful look to Claire.
"Of course I'll help. I have nothing else I need to do today anyway," Claire said with a shrug.
A little while later, the four had finished breakfast and had cleaned up the remains. Claire was at the sink, finishing the dishes, when Flora came up to her.
"Luke and I are heading out. Got anymore last second advice that might be useful to know?" She asked.
"Just be yourself, and don't be afraid to tell him how you feel." Claire told her. "I'm serious when I say that it's as simple as that."
"Thank you," Flora said, and hugged her. "Like Luke said earlier, we'll be home on time to have dinner on the table."
"Alright, have fun, and stay safe," Claire told her with a suggestive tone.
"Claire!" Flora cried, hitting her with a nearby towel.
"Alright, I'll stop. But seriously have fun, and don't be afraid to tell him how you feel."
"Okay, I'll see you later," Flora said and left.
Claire smiled as she went back to finishing the dishes. It was nice to see such young love sometimes.
Presently she finished the dishes and went up to Hershel's office to help him finish marking tests.
"Oh my," She said as she entered his office and saw stacks upon stacks of tests that needed to be marked. Hershel smiled sheepishly.
"I guess it's pretty obvious now why I wanted some help. As you can see, I've been putting this off for a while."
"Tsk Tsk Hershel," Claire said in a teasing tone. "I thought true gentlemen never put anything off."
Hershel sighed, "They're not supposed to, I guess I broke that rule though."
"You sure did." Claire sighed, "Well tell me what I can do and let's get started then. The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish."
Hershel smiled and handed her a bunch of stacks and then some answer keys. "These are the fill in the blank, true or false, and multiple choice, along with the answer keys, you can work on these, while I mark the essays."
"Alright," Claire said, accepting the stacks and answer keys. She then swiped a red pen from his pencil case, settled down, and began to work.
Meanwhile Luke and Flora had just arrived at the park and were walking down towards the water to sit on the rocky ledge.
Flora sighed happily as she looked out over the water. She found this very nice, just sitting there with Luke, not having to care about anything. But she knew that now was the perfect time to take Claire's advice and tell Luke how she felt about him. "Luke," She said to gain his attention.
"Yes Flora."
"Do you like me?"
"Of course I like you Flora, you're my best friend. And don't forget the fact that we live together," Was Luke's reply.
Flora sighed frustrated. "That's not exactly what I meant. I meant; do you like me, like me?"
"Oh. Umm, well," Luke started, and then paused.
"You know what, let's just forget I ever said that," Flora said flustered. She was completely embarrassed. "How could I think that he would like me like that," She thought miserably. She got up and started to walk away. But before she got very far, Luke went after her and grabbed her arm.
"Hey now, you caught me off guard and didn't give me a chance to answer." He said to her.
"Okay," Flora said. "What is your answer then?"
"I really like you Flora; sometimes I even think I like you more than I should. I just haven't had the guts to tell you that."
"Really?" Flora asked, her hopes soaring.
"Really, I do. What about you though? Do you like me in the same way?"
"I do, that's why I asked. It's also why I asked you to come here with me this afternoon. I needed a way to tell you." Flora finally admitted.
"I'm glad you did, I don't think I would have gotten the guts otherwise," Luke chuckled.
"Don't thank me, thank Claire. Without her advice, I would have gotten the guts to ask."
"I think we'll have to make her favourite for dinner than tonight, won't we?" Luke suggested.
"That, we will. But if we are going to make that, we'll have to go to the store and get some supplies."
"It'll definitely be worth it though. And we don't need to leave for another couple of hours," Luke said.
Flora smiled and grabbed his hand. Luke smiled back at her before leading her away from the rocks for a walk.
A while later Claire and the Professor were still hard at work, marking the tests. They were so focused that they didn't hear Luke and Flora coming back in or check the time at all. Finally, Claire had finished the sections that Hershel had given her. Bored, she got up and turned on some music. A sweet classical tune came on; satisfied, Claire sat down.
"So you're so bored you put on classical music?" Hershel asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep, I actually am that bored. Now, are you nearly done?"
The Professor chuckled, "I've only got a few more left, give me twenty minutes and I should be done."
"Alright," Claire agreed. "But as soon as you're done, we're doing something else, okay?"
"Alright," He chuckled.
Sure enough twenty minutes later the Professor had finished his work. "Alright, I'm done everything I need to do."
"Yay!" Claire said, bounding over to his desk. He chuckled, wondering where she got that energy. That and the music gave him a great idea. He stood up and walked around the desk.
"Would you do me the honour of this dance my lady?" He asked Claire, holding out his hand to her.
"Enchanted of course," She said taking his hand. He pulled her into position, settling his other hand on her waist, while she put her other hand on his shoulder. They spent the next little while twirling around the room.
After a while, a slightly faster song came on. Noting that, Hershel upped their speed a bit so that they were moving at a faster rate. This caught Claire off guard, and she wasn't able to turn fast enough. She ended up toppling over onto the couch, pulling Hershel down on top of her.
"Oh, are you okay my dear?" Hershel said as he went to get up off her.
"No, stay," She said, pulling him back down. "Trust me, I'm fine. And I like this position too much for you to get up."
"Oh you do, do you?" Hershel said teasingly. Then he leaned down and kissed her. The kiss quickly got heated as Claire reached up and pulled him further down, tangling her fingers in his hair. This, unfortunately for them, did not last for very long.
"Professor, Claire, dinner's-" Luke stopped cold as he saw the position that the Professor and Claire were in. They looked up quickly when they heard them, their cheeks flooding with colour. "Ready." Luke squeaked out. Then he turned and bolted from the room.
"Oh dear. I think we just scarred him for life." Claire said, as her cheeks returned to normal colour.
"I think you might be right. We better go downstairs before we scar him any further, and before dinner gets cold." Hershel replied, getting up from on top of her. They quickly straightened out their clothes and hair before heading out of the room and towards the stairs.
Meanwhile Luke had bolted into the kitchen where Flora was finishing putting cutlery out. She looked up, curious, "What happened to you?"
"The Professor, Claire, couch in his office, awkwardness, mehhh." Luke moaned as he sat down at his spot at the table. Flora couldn't help but laugh, poor Luke. She sat down at her spot. Soon the Professor and Claire joined them, doing their best not to look at anyone in the eye. Flora's need to laugh became even stronger.
"So; any particular reason for your choice of dinner tonight?" Claire asked Flora, her eyes twinkling. She was obviously trying to put the awkward situation behind everyone.
"Maybe," Flora said, doing her best not to look at Claire as she said it.
"Ha! Yes! I knew it! I told you it would work," Claire told Flora triumphed.
"Alright, alright, I admit it. You're advice worked. This is our way of thanking you." Flora told her. Luke just continued to sit there looking awkward.
"You're welcome," Claire said, her eyes twinkling. After this the table once again fell into an awkward silence as no one looked at anyone else, and didn't say anything. Finally the Professor decided the break the silence.
"As awkward and embarrassing as this is going to be, we do need to talk about what happened." Luke and Claire's cheeks turned red when they heard this.
"Do we absolutely have to?" Luke moaned. Claire nodded her head furiously, in agreement with Luke.
"I'm afraid we do," The Professor replied. Luke and Claire moaned in response.
"I don't mean 'the talk', I mean just about what happened. Luke does need to understand, and for that matter, Flora actually does too." Flora groaned when she heard that. The Professor sighed; this was not going to be easy.
"Well... How do I put this? Well when you are in a committed relationship with someone you really love, your feelings and boundaries change."
"You said this wasn't 'the talk', this sounds an awful lot like 'the talk'," Claire said through gritted teeth.
"It's not 'the talk', I assure you."
"Then why does it sound like 'the talk'?" Claire said getting more flustered by the second.
"Just let me continue," Hershel said. Claire relented, falling back in her chair, her head in her hands. "Now as I was saying; boundaries change, you will be willing to do more than you thought, and you will be willing to say things that you never thought that you would say. But never do anything that you are not sure about. Do you two understand?"
"Yes Professor, I understand," Luke said.
"I understand too," Flora agreed.
"Good, now do either of you have any questions?" The Professor said. Claire groaned when she heard him say that, she did not want them asking any questions about what they had done in the past.
"What does what I saw happen have to do with this?" Claire groaned internally, this is exactly what she didn't want Luke to ask.
"It's a good example as to how your boundaries will change."
"Must we talk about this?" Claire finally gave up and asked. "I mean seriously, what does this have to do with anything really?"
Hershel sighed, Claire was being worse about this than the kids. "Alright, you two are both dismissed," He said to Luke and Flora, who bolted from the table as soon as he said this.
Claire sank as far down in her chair as humanly possible, "Thank God that's over."
Hershel chuckled, moving his chair closer to hers. "Well, despite the fact that you were worse about this than the kids," He paused when Claire smacked him in the chest. "Hey now, you were worse about it. But as I was saying; despite that, I think you've earned yourself a bit of a reward."
Claire looked up, her face brightened up considerably, "What kind of reward do you mean?" She asked, curious.
"Well I can think of a few things," Hershel said with a mischievous smile.
Claire got up and started picking up dishes, "Well then let's get this mess cleaned up then, shall we?" She said, her eyes twinkling.
The next morning it was Luke and Flora's turn to make breakfast. When it was ready Flora decided to set it out while Luke went to go get the Professor and Claire who had not yet appeared downstairs. When he went up to their room and knocked, he got no answer, making him assume that they were still asleep. But when he opened the door he was in for quite the sight.
Clothes were strewn everywhere in the room. Claire and Hershel were still asleep, and Luke could see his bare chest and her bare back as they slept curled up next to each other, his arm around her, and hers laying over his torso. Luke bolted out of the room, shutting the door quietly and then bolting into the kitchen. Flora looked up curiously when he ran in.
"Why does it always have to be me?"
3368 words later, and this is the longest chapter of anything I have ever written in my life. And all I have to say about it is; don't get used to it. As it is, I'm amazed I wrote this much for how simple the idea for this chapter started out. But I'm pleased by the way this turned out, especially the way I introduced the Luke/Flora relationship. From now on I will mention at the beginning of the chapter whether it is pre Luke/Flora or established Luke/Flora. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but I'll never know if you don't review ;).
Oh, and one more thing; PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE LAST SPECTER IS SET TO COME OUT THIS FALL! As you can tell, I am VERY excited xD.